Uncomfortable Truth
by AmyVS7
Summary: Ronnie loves a good wind up, especially if it's at Matt and Alesha's expense.
1. Chapter 1

**Law & Order: UK fic:**

Pairing: Mattesha

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Summary: Ronnie loves a good wind up, especially if it's at Matt and Alesha's expense.

A/N: _I'm back! I've not been writing for a while, but I hope this makes up for it. Let the hilarity ensue!_

**Uncomfortable Truth**

"Okay, thanks guys, I'll get this information back to Jake" Alesha bid farewell before she headed out of Natalie's office.

Matt sprung up out of one of the chairs by the desk as soon as Alesha had left the room, startling his two co-workers. "Right, back to work!" and the young detective rushed out of the room all too quickly.

Natalie and Ronnie looked at eachother with bemusement written all over their faces.

"What's he up to?" Natalie wondered, as she re-organised some papers on her desk.

"I'm not sure I want to know" Ronnie chuckled, then spotted something on Natalie's desk "Oh Alesha left her phone, i'll go and see if I can catch her up."

Ronnie left the office with Alesha's phone in his hand, he walked at a much brisker pace than normal as he headed towards the stairs. He refused to run for anything. Getting onto the top of the stairwell, he glanced down over the railings to see if he could spot Alesha, however he got a little more than he bargained for. On the stairs, a few flights below, he could see his young detective partner sharing an intimately long kiss with their female CPS colleague. Ronnie had to laugh to himself. All be it quietly. Quickly realising he could take full advantage of the situation to wind them up later on; Ronnie tried to signal to the pair of them that he was heading towards them. He banged shut the door leading onto the stairwell and walked heavily down the stairs as he shouted out "Alesha! Alesha, wait up!"

Ronnie quickly heard a "Yeah?" in response from the woman in question.

Ronnie smiled as he walked a bit quicker down the stairs and soon approached the pair of them, both of whom looked decidedly flustered "You forgot this." He handed her the mobile.

"Oh thank-you so much Ronnie, can't believe I left it in the office!" Alesha put her phone away safetly in her bag.

Ronnie assured her "That's alright, easily done." He then turned to Matt "So sunshine, what are you doing with our Alesha, I thought you said you were getting on with some work?"

Matt looked panic stricken for a second, trying to come up with a good excuse "Uhh... I uh... just fancied some fresh air."

Ronnie looked in agreement "Yeah looks like you need it, you look a bit...flustered" he glanced between the two of them "Actually the pair of you do."

Matt and Alesha were trying to hide their blushes.

"Must be a bit hot in here, don't you think so Matt?" Alesha said, hurriedly.

"Yeah, yeah" Matt fanned himself with his hand "Boiling!"

"Really?" Ronnie looked confused "It's freezing in here, the heating broke a while ago, remember...everyone's been doing their work in their coats!"

"Oh...yeah" the penny had slowly dropped for Matt, he just hoped Ronnie wouldn't keep going on about it, the hole had been dug deep enough already.

"Right...anyway, I best be off" Alesha said, readjusting her bag anxiously wanting to get away "Thanks again Ron, I'll see you both later in the week."

"See ya love" Ronnie said casually, as he began heading back up the stairs, but he had glanced back to see Matt and Alesha sharing a brief loving look, and Matt giving her a wink in his usual Devlin fashion. Before Matt ascended the stairs and caught Ronnie staring at him, peculiarly.

"What?" Matt asked, frowning at his partner's expression.

"You're up to something my boy, I know it."

Matt laughed and patted Ronnie on the back as he said "No I'm not, you're going a bit mad in your old age!"

"Oi watch it you!" Ronnie said, to the echoes of Matt's laughter ahead of him.

Ronnie knowing the true extent of what had gone on, and boy was he going to enjoy making Matt and Alesha squirm.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"He was what?" Natalie asked, flabbergasted "Say that again Ron? I don't believe you."

"Our Matty was kissing Alesha!" The excitement in Ronnie's voice was evident enough, as he gossiped to his boss minutes later.

"Seriously?" a smile was rapidly spreading across Natalie's face "That's brilliant! Took him long enough to make his move."

Ronnie laughed "Shows how much he likes her, otherwise he would have done it years ago!"

Natalie chuckled "So how come I haven't heard you talking to him about this?"

"Because he doesn't know that I know."

"You've lost me" Natalie frowned.

Ronnie sighed "They didn't see me" he rubbed his hands together and chuckled mischievously "Ooo I'm going to wind him right up!"

Natalie laughed but in a pitying kind of way "Oh Ronnie don't, you'll embarrass the poor boy."

"I'm only teasing him" Ronnie grinned from ear to ear "This is going to be fun!"

Natalie rolled her eyes and couldn't help but laugh, knowing there was no stopping Ronnie Brooks.

...

Two days later ...

"So Matty" Ronnie spun around in his chair at his desk to face his partner "Seeing Alesha tomorrow?"

Matt nearly choked on his sandwich "No" he coughed forcibly "No...why, why ... why would I be seeing Alesha? It's saturday tomorrow."

"No reason" he looked at Matt in concern as he continued to cough "You alright son, didn't mean to startle you."

Matt gave one last cough as he gulped for air "No, it's fine. You didn't."

"Good, because we need you conscious for our CPS meeting in a bit."

"We're going to see Alesha?" Matt perked up considerably at the thought.

"Yeah...don't forget Jake and Henry too" Ronnie had to stop himself from grinning like a cheshire cat "You're obsessed with that girl, honestly Matty. People will start talking y'know."

"Which people? Has someone said something?" Matt looked genuinely concerned.

Ronnie had to give a surprised laugh "No, calm down sunshine!" He frowned suspiciously "Why... _is_ there something to talk about?"

Matt brushed it off "No, course not, no... no." He could see Ronnie was staring at him, eyebrows raised "No!"

Ronnie laughed "Okay, okay keep your hair on!" He got up off his chair and went to grab his coat "Come on, we'd best be going."

Matt sighed to himself, not knowing how long it would be until he cracked.

...

"She was what?" an astonished Jake and Henry said to Ronnie, whilst Matt and Alesha were outside getting coffee for them all.

"Yeah I'm telling you I saw them, but they don't know that I know."

"So when are you planning on telling them you know?" Jake wondered.

Ronnie looked surprised "Don't be daft, why would I do that?"

Jake and Henry laughed.

Jake then remembered something he had heard earlier "Hang on, I remember Alesha was on the phone earlier booking a restaurant reservation for two people at Tony's for tonight..."

Ronnie quickly interjected "That's Matt's favourite restaurant!" Ronnie grinned widely, a plan very quickly forming in his mind "Jackpot!"

...

Meanwhile outside the room...

"I'm telling you 'Lesh, Ronnie's acting really weird" Matt was leaning against the desk, his arms folded.

"You've never complained before" Alesha said, cheekily as she stood facing him.

Matt chuckled before saying "No, seriously, he keeps bringing you up in most conversations."

Alesha briefly glanced through the class partition into the room at the boys, before saying quietly to Matt "You don't think he knows do you?"

"No...No, we've been careful" Matt scratched his head "It's probably me over-reacting, if not i'll get it out of him eventually."

Alesha smiled sweetly and gave him a kiss on the cheek, Matt smiled "What was that for?"

Alesha shrugged but continued smiling "Just felt like it."

Matt grinned happily and took the coffees off the desk "Better get this into that lot; otherwise they will start asking more questions."

...

Henry grinned as the youngest members of their team entered the room, coffees in hand "Ah there you two are, took your time with those."

"Yeah, well they are here now" Alesha smiled at her boss "So what are we talking about?"

"Well actually, we've decided to go out for some dinner tonight...do you two fancy joining us?" Ronnie asked Matt and Alesha. Matt briefly glanced at Alesha who did the same in return.

"Uh...well I would have but I'm meeting a mate of mine for drinks tonight" Matt was quick to say.

Alesha then piped up "Yeah I'm busy too, I'm already going out for dinner with a friend of mine."

"I thought earlier you said you were just washing your hair?" Jake asked, curiously.

Alesha felt like a deer caught in headlights for a second, before quickly correcting her excuse she had made to Jake earlier this morning.

"Well I was...well I still am, but last minute plans were made."

"Aw that's a shame, now are you sure we can't tempt you?" Henry wondered "You can both bring your friend's along, the more the merrier."

Alesha smiled "That's a lovely gesture Henry, I appreciate that but I can't, not tonight. I'm sorry."

"Yeah same here, but thanks anyway" Matt said, a slight awkwardness now tinged the air, but Matt quickly made it melt away "So, what are the plans for the Weatherstone trial?"

...

On a quiet street near Matt Devlin's house, was Tony's. A quaint italian restaurant, cosy summed up the place perfectly from the atmosphere, the dark wood floors and tables to the rich red walls complete with some exposed stone. Small groups of people, but mainly couples, were dotted all across the restaurant on this chilly Friday evening, and one of those couples was Matt and Alesha. The former in a smart black suit, the latter being in a halter neck navy blue dress. Their conversation flowing beautifully as they ate their delectable three course meal.

They were just about to have their desserts when the bell above the door of the restaurant rang, signalling the arrival of more customers. Dread instantly filled Matt and Alesha as they heard the voices of Ronnie, Jake and Henry.

"Oh no, no, no!" Alesha said in a quiet panic to Matt who was seated with his back to them.

"I don't believe this" stressed Matt, not daring to turn around and look "Of all the restaurants in the whole of London they have to pick, they pick this one!"

"Alesha?" Ronnie said enthusiastically, waving at her, as he spotted her from where they were standing waiting to be seated, the three of them made their way over.

Alesha planted a smile onto her face "Hi guys, fancy seeing you here!"

"I know it's..." then Ronnie looked surprised as they came closer and saw who Alesha's dinner companion was "Matt?"

Matt gave a smile "Hi guys."

"You're having dinner together? ... What happened to your earlier plans?" Henry asked, baffled.

"Our plans didn't change" Alesha remained calm, unlike Matt who was looking at her with panic in his eyes "We both said that we were going out with friends, and we're friends" she gestured to Matt sitting opposite her "We do this dinner thing every now and again."

"First we've heard about it" Ronnie frowned "And how come we weren't included in this annual get together?"

"Well..." Alesha was struggling to follow through with her quickly thought up plan "We thought ..."

Matt helped her out "What Alesha's too polite to say is, we see enough of you guys in work so as Alesha and I are good friends and we don't really see eachother in or outside of work that much, we thought we'd make it a regular thing to meet up, to have a catch up. Plus" he started grinning cheekily "Gives us chance to gossip about all you oldies."

"Oi i'm not that old!" Jake and Ronnie said together, whilst Henry shrugged his shoulders "Fair point."

Matt and Alesha laughed.

"So how come you chose this restaurant to come to?" Alesha had to ask the question.

"Well Matty keeps going on about how the food here is amazing" Ronnie said with Matt's sound of agreement as Ronnie continued "So I suggested it to the guys and here we are." He then looked at Alesha happily "By the way you look lovely."

Alesha blushed "Aww thank-you."

"And you don't scrub up too badly either sunshine" Ronnie clapped his partner on the back "Look he's put aftershave on and everything!" this caused laughter from the group.

Even Matt who admitted "Yeah well I doubt Alesha would like it if I turned up having not showered and made myself presentable."

"No I certainly would not" Alesha giggled.

The waitress then approached them "Gentlemen, your table is ready now if you would care to follow me."

"Thank-you" Henry said kindly "Well I guess we'll see you in work on Monday. Enjoy your meal."

"Thank-you, you too" Alesha said, the pair of them watching the boys walk further into the restaurant. Alesha turned back to Matt and two of them gave a sigh of relief.

"Blimey, that was close!" Alesha ran a hand through her curled hair.

"Well done though, good cover story" Matt praised his date with a grateful smile.

"All that thinking on my feet I do is paying off" Alesha grinned before taking a sip from her red wine.

"It certainly does...and Alesha..."

"Yeah?" Alesha looked at Matt expectantly.

"You do look beautiful tonight."

"Thank-you, you've said it more than enough already" she giggled, embarrassed.

"I can never say it enough" Matt smiled, picking up his own wine glass and offered it up to toast with hers "To us."

"To us" Alesha repeated the words; they clinked their glasses and took a sip, just in time before their desserts arrived at their table.

Matt and Alesha ate their desserts, their behaviour towards eachother becoming slightly more reserved, knowing their work colleagues weren't far and could easily approach them at any time. But thankfully they soon left the restaurant and headed back to Matt's place minutes away, happy in the knowledge that anymore interrogation would be over for the weekend.

Or so they thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Alesha Phillips woke up in Matt Devlin's arms, the sunshine coming in through the window cast a beaming light over the two of them encased by the covers. Alesha reached up and kissed Matt, which awoke him immediately.

"Good morning" he smiled at her, giving her another kiss in return.

"Morning" Alesha beamed "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah perfectly, how about you?"

"Very well indeed" Alesha kissed him again "D'ya know I could lie here _all_ day."

"No arguments from me" he reached over and tickled her, Alesha laughing, begging for him to relent.

An hour or so passed and the two of them remained in bed, not caring that it was lunchtime and they still hadn't got out of bed.

Suddenly the doorbell rang and there was some loud knocks on the door, Matt instantly sat up in bed.

"You expecting anyone?" Alesha said, as she too sat up as Matt got out of the bed.

"No, not that I can remember. I'll be back in a minute."

He left the bedroom and headed for the front door, opening it to discover DS Ronnie Brooks standing there with a chipper smile on his face.

"Alright son, you look like you've just crawled out of bed" he invited himself inside.

Matt closed the door behind him "Well I have as a matter of fact. What are you doing here, Ron?"

"Honestly Matty, you're wasting the day away in bed, the sun is shining and there's a West Ham game on this afternoon, today couldn't be better!"

"Lovely Ron" Matt saying all too sarcastically "And this has to do with me because...?"

"Well considering the fact you dumped me yesterday for the lovely Alesha, you my boy are going to watch the game with me this afternoon."

"Aw Ron, seriously mate I can't."

Ronnie sighed "Why not? Not got more secret plans with Alesha have you?"

"No" Matt said, even though his plans were indeed to spend the day with the woman in question, lazing in bed "I have some errands to run."

"But how am I supposed to enjoy the game without my best mate there?"

Matt sighed and ruffled his hair "Okay I'll meet you in the pub at 6pm how about that?"

Ronnie rolled his eyes "I suppose so, but _you're_ buying the drinks!"

"Nothing new there" Matt grinned.

Ronnie looked back at him, as if he was going to make a cheeky remark in return, but then he spotted something out of the corner of his eye.

"Hang on, isn't that Alesha's scarf?"

Lying discarded over the back of the sofa, was indeed Alesha's scarf. Matt began to panic but put up a facade of calmness as Ronnie looked back at him, questionably.

"Oh yeah, she must have left it here last night."

"Ohhh" Ronnie's eyes lit up like a light bulb "Soooo, she spent the night here then?"

"No, no of course she didn't, Ronnie."

Ronnie looked at him mischievously "Come on Matty, you're not fooling me."

"No it's the truth" Matt was lying through his teeth in desperation "She came back here because she wanted to look over some of the paperwork for the trial that I had brought home with me to work on. We were just discussing the case, and then she went home. Evidently without her scarf."

Ronnie knew all too well what the truth was, but respected his partner for pretending nothing was going on, so he let the subject drop.

"Okay if you say so" Ronnie smiled "Well I tell you what, why don't you invite Alesha tonight; you can return her scarf to her, and I'll invite the boys and the Gov, we can all have a drink tonight. What d'ya say to that?"

"Yeah sounds good, Alesha's free I think, she didn't say she was doing anything tonight."

"Great so I'll see you at 6pm" Ronnie said, before Matt lead the way to the front door.

"See ya son" were Ronnie's last words before Matt closed the door.

Ronnie had a grin plastered on his face as he walked away, whilst Matt leant against the door and gave a deep sigh.

Alesha came into the hallway dressed in Matt's shirt from the night before "You alright?"

Matt looked stressed out "We can't do this anymore, Alesha."

Alesha's face instantly dropped "What?"

The look of sadness on her face made Matt realise how that sounded and he rushed to correct her thoughts.

"No, no, not like that sweetie" he came up to her and gave her a hug "I meant we can't keep lying to them like this, we have to tell them the truth."

"But I thought we agreed to take it slow and tell them when we're ready?"

Matt brushed her hair out of her face "I know babe, but it's clearly not working very well. If we don't do this now, we're going to get caught out, and soon."

"Yeah I guess you're right" Alesha smiled at him "So it's official, we're going to tell them we're a couple?"

Matt beamed "Ahuh...but first, we're going to have to do something about this shirt, it looks too good on you."

He tickled her again, causing a lot of giggling before Alesha managed to wriggle free and rushed back to the bedroom, Matt hot on her heels.

...

At just after 6pm Alesha arrived at the pub, working her way through the throng of people and found the table where Natalie, Henry, Ronnie and Jake were already sat.

"Hey guys!"

"Hi Alesha, Matt not with you?" Ronnie wondered, curiously.

"No, why would Matt be with me?" she replied as she sat down.

"Just not like him to be the last one here."

"Suppose so" Alesha smiled before the team began chatting amongst themselves.

In fact Matt _had_ arrived with Alesha, but had gone to get a round in at the bar and was now making his way towards the group, tray of drinks in hand.

"There he is" Natalie announced as she saw him approach.

"And he's bought drinks, good man!" Henry praised the young detective as Matt put the tray of drinks down on the table.

"Got you all your usuals, that alright?" he said, as he took the last available seat between Alesha and Henry.

There were noises of gratitude from the group before Matt spoke up again "Anyway, guys I want to say something as we're all here. A few of you, but one of you in particular" he looked directly at Ronnie who looked back in amusement "Have been wondering something this past week, so I'm going to set the record straight. Myself and Alesha are officially a couple." He took hold of her hand and they smiled happily at eachother.

Beaming smiles lit up on everyone's faces, before the four team members then abruptly burst into laughter. The reaction Matt and Alesha had not been expecting.

"What's so funny?" Matt asked, baffled.

"Oh guys, I'm sorry but...we've known all along!" Natalie announced to them, now trying to control her laughter.

"What, since when?" Alesha asked, stunned.

"I saw you two on the stairs on Wednesday" Ronnie told them.

Matt and Alesha glanced at eachother rapidly. The penny dropped.

"Yeah then Ronnie told me" Natalie piped up.

Followed by Jake saying "Then Ronnie told us yesterday" he gestured to Henry who nodded.

"So you've all known about us all this time and haven't said anything?" Matt said, aghast.

"Oh it's been fun messing with you" Ronnie said.

Matt couldn't help but laugh, pointing briefly at his partner "I _knew_ there was something up with you!"

"So the restaurant yesterday?" Alesha asked the boys.

"Heard you on the phone making the reservations at a restaurant that Ronnie then informed us was Matt's favourite, sooo" Jake informed his work colleague, "We put two and two together and set it up."

"And I knew Alesha would be there that's why i came round earlier" Ronnie added mischievously "You just made it easier for me when I saw the scarf. And honestly that tale you spung me earlier Matty, come on you could have lied better than that. Since when do you _ever_ take your work home?" Ronnie raised his eyebrows.

Matt laughed "Fair point."

"Where is the scarf, Alesha?" Ronnie wondered, a cheeky look in his eye.

Alesha picked it out of the bag and showed it to Ronnie who chuckled, before she put it away again now laughing herself "Ooo you guys are _so_ sneaky!"

"Takes one to know one" Jake said to her, causing the new couple to chuckle "I just don't know why you felt the need to keep it a secret?"

Alesha glanced at Matt and took his hand reassuringly before answering "We just want to take things slowly, we wouldn't want to ruin our friendship or working relationship either by rushing things and taking things too fast."

"Wise move" Ronnie smiled understandably "Although there wasn't much point you two hiding it, we could see there was something there between you. There always has been."

Matt and Alesha looked at eachother and Alesha moved closer to Matt and he put his arm around her and kissed her forehead. They all smiled.

"Well it's all out there now, and we're all very happy for you both" Natalie said, the others agreeing wholeheartedly.

"Thanks guys, it means a lot" Matt said as he rubbed Alesha's arm.

"To Matt and Alesha" Ronnie held up his glass as did the others, the echoes of this couple's name ringing out between them all.

"So Ron" Matt said to his partner, as he put down his drink and cuddled up to Alesha "How did West Ham get on?"

Ronnie's expression instantly dropped, Alesha had to stop herself from bursting into giggles at Ronnie's look as he responded "Oh you had to bring the mood down didn't ya Matty" Ronnie said sadly.

Henry laughed "They lost 3-0!"

Everyone laughed, Matt taking particular enjoyment out of it, as they all now began to tease Ronnie. The job of winding up his best mate was now Matt's. Justice was well and truly served.

...

_That's the end guys! Hope you enjoyed it :D_

_A review would be fab, thank-you! xxx_


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